After making an endless runner math game ([url]www.meerkatmath.com[/url]) I am now working on marketing and promoting it with little to no budget. Seeing how my app is freemium and only earning an ARPU of $0.03 it doesn't seem worth it to buy users. I have made some connection with momswithapps.com and kindertown, but I am not sure where else to go from here. My time is especially limited because I am currently working on a big update to to my game.

The app is better than most educational apps and Meerkat Math version 2 should be significantly better than the other math games out there, but the only way Meerkat Math broke into the top 50 Educational store was when Apple featured it, which is entirely out of my control. Does anyone know of specific sites/blogs that are particularly useful and don't want to get paid to write a review? I am especially interested in app review sites for teachers.

If anyone wants to test the new and greatly improved version of Meerkat Math I can give you a prerelease version.

Squink Games is getting into the "edutainment" market as well. I've been doing a lot of research over the past few weeks about marketing for Indie studios. There's a lot of information out there and it's a HUGE undertaking.

From what I've read, my suggestion would be to put off your update. Honestly. I understand that, as a developer, your first priority will always be your game. However, without marketing, you could have the most amazing kids' game in the world and it wouldn't go anywhere (unless you were very, very lucky and someone stumbled across it and, in essence, did the marketing for you) without marketing.

My boyfriend and I were just having this discussion earlier this evening (he's our artist and programmer).

Things I've learned from my reading:

Build a Community

Have a Blog, a website, and social media accounts on FB, Twitter, G+ (those're the main ones but Reddit, Tumblr, Pinterest, Youtube, and many others have been mentioned)

Contact reviewers and Blogs and find a way to make yourself and your game stand out

Don't waste your money on banner ads

I guess what I'm saying is, marketing is just as, if not more, important as making a good game is.

Maniac Dev put together a list of iOS reviewers that you can find here.

About Us

"TouchArcade covers the latest games and apps for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch. We are the largest site dedicated
to iPhone and iPod Touch gaming."

Promotional Codes

While we now accept iTunes Promotional Codes for games, we can't guarantee that your app will be reviewed or covered. Only one promotion code is required. Feel free to send promo codes to tips@toucharcade.com.

While we appreciate the promo codes, notable app pre-announcements and preview copies are also of interest to our readers. Please feel free to contact us at the same email address about these opportunities.

Note: we rarely (if ever) solicit developers directly for promo codes. If you receive such an email, please contact us.

Advertising

We have advertising opportunities available to iPhone and iPod Touch developers. If interested, please contact us at ads@toucharcade.com.

Press Contact

We welcome news releases, previews, screenshots and video links for existing or upcoming iPhone and iPod Games. We can't promise a personal reply but we do try to evaluate every title submitted. Please send press releases or general inquiries to tips@toucharcade.com.